A Calling to Teach

My good friend Rene Gabbard shared this post on the Big Spender Stories Facebook page and I thought it was so good that I would share it here as well. The discussion topic was "I knew God was real when..." Thanks, Rene for telling your story.

I knew God was real when he answered prayer in a very specific way. It was at the very beginning of my teaching career and I was so frustrated. All my life I had wanted to be a teacher and truly felt that God had called me to teach, but I was so unhappy. Every Sunday afternoon, I would get a horrible headache and my stomach would ache as I faced the reality of going back to school on Monday. One Monday morning, I was stopped at the intersection of Tylersville Road and By-pass 4, waiting to cross the highway when I just started sobbing. I was angry and exasperated and yelling and crying. I'm certain that passers-by thought I was crazy. I just kept thinking, "I can't do this anymore! I can't!!" Then, it hit me. That's right, YOU can't. I had tried to compartmentalize my life and, in my foolishness, I had tried to teach on my own. So, right there at that intersection, I surrendered my students and my career to the Lord. I admitted that I couldn't do it on my own and, more importantly, I didn't want to do it on my own anymore. I realized my teaching for what it truly was--my mission field and I answered the call to be a missionary in the public school system. My goal was to teach for 5 years and then move on. The longer I taught, the more I wanted to teach. And, the more I taught, the more opportunities God gave me to witness to my kids and my colleagues and the parents and, well...the list goes on and on. Nothing that I accomplished in 30 years as a teacher was my doing. It was all God's working through me. I knew God was real when He kept on blessing me and blessing me as a teacher. I learned that all my life belongs to Him and when I try to handle things on my own, the result is disastrous.